'Dark web' fraud sites cracked, 100s of suspects: Europol

Detectives in 23 countries have smashed a fraudulent dark web platform purporting to offer child abuse images, EU police agency Europol said on Friday, with 440 customers in their sights.

“Operation Alice” targeted the operator of the platform, identified only as a 35-year-old man based in China. Europol said he ran more than 373,000 fraudulent websites in total.

The dark web platform “Alice with Violence CP” sold child abuse images and other cybercrime “services” such as credit card data and access to back-end computer systems.

Customers were tricked into providing payment for these “products” but received nothing in return.

Europol estimated the suspect made around 345,000 euros ($400,000) from around 10,000 people who attempted to buy the illicit material.

Police have so far identified 440 users of the platform and their investigations are ongoing.

Operation Alice, which began in 2021, sends a “clear message,” said Europol director Catherine de Bolle in a statement.

“There is nowhere to hide for criminals when the international law enforcement community works hand in glove. We will find them and hold them accountable,” she said.

A fire at an auto parts manufacturing factory in Daejeon, South Korea, has left 10 people dead, 59 injured and four missing, fire authorities said Saturday.

The presidents of Kenya and Uganda were set to meet near their shared border Saturday to mark the multi-billion-dollar, long-delayed extension of a Chinese-built railway that has left Kenya heavily in debt.

A record early heat wave striking the west of the United States on Friday is a one-in-500-years type event and all but certainly the result of human-caused climate change, experts say.

The Israeli military said it launched strikes on “regime targets” in Tehran early Saturday, after reporting several rounds of Iranian missile fire at Israel.